X-Men: Legends screens melee

Squads of mutants dragging each other through a team-based action RPG? Oh, go on then

After an early but well received outing at last year's E3, X-Men: Legends is slowly gearing up for a 2004 release. Pitting a team of up to four players against a series of suitably way-out adversaries and mind-bending puzzles, the game blends some fairly intense battles with more traditional RPG fare. Each of the X-Men has their own special ability, naturally, and you'll be able to upgrade them with good old fashioned Experience Points as you go.

At the kick-off you'll only be able to select your freaksquad from a limited range of mutants, but progression is rewarded with access to an ever wider spread of ever more obscure X-Men, and you'll be well advised to pick carefully. Missions are being designed around specific characters' reality-shunning talents. You wouldn't necessarily want to take someone like the intelligent, agile Jean Grey into a free-for-all, for instance, but Collossus sounds just the ticket. You'll also be able to initiate unique two-character combos for every possible pairing of X-People.